Crystal Ch. 09

The two of them had come in from riding around all morning and speaking with small businesses and rising businesses about joining up with the government's food program when they were called to the office. Since neither of them had been acting suspiciously around the office, they figured that no one knew what their secret was, so they were safe.

"Mr. Potenti and Ms. Harris, I know that you two are one of our most finest teams we have here," their boss, Mr. Jacobs smiled. That smile automatically turned into a frown as he slammed an envelope on the table. "However, that doesn't mean you're excluded from some of the company's rules. I have worked hard to make sure this working environment is as unbiased as possible."

"Mr. Jacobs, what are you talking about?" Shelby asked. "There is nothing going on between us."

"Oh really," Mr. Jacobs frowned. He opened the envelope and dumped multiple pictures on the desk. "These are the recent times you two have been out when you thought no one was watching."

Shakily, Max went through the pictures of him and Shelby kissing in the company car. In little scribbles were the dates that the pictures were taken, letting them know they had been followed for days. Shelby covered her face with her hands as she started crying.

"I'm not going to fire you two since no one else does a greater job than you two," Mr. Jacobs informed. "However, I will demote you to set an example that no one is exempt from the consequences of disobeying the rules we have. When you do a good enough job, I might get you promoted again, although you'll have different schedules. I really don't like breaking up couples like this, but if someone gets jealous of either of you then your relationship would cause a mess that I will have to clean."

"Mr. Jacobs, I know it's against company policy, but I love Shelby," Max stated as Shelby's cries got louder.

"That's a lie," Shelby vehemently stated, surprising both Max and Mr. Jacobs.

"What are you talking about, Shelby?" Max asked.

"You never loved me, you've only been using me," Shelby replied.

"You're lying, why are you lying like this?" Max said.

"You said that if I didn't comply with you then you'd release nude pictures of me to random people," Shelby shivered.

"I never said that!" Max exclaimed, standing up.

Shelby instinctively flinched as Mr. Jacobs watched in silence. Max was really confused as to why Shelby would go to such an extreme length to cover up her involvement in their relationship. They had already been told they were getting a demotion and, if they did well enough, they'd be promoted back to their regular positions with different schedules. What was her goal?

"Tell me, who started the relationship?" Mr. Jacobs asked.

"It was mutual attraction," Max stated. That was actually a lie. Shelby had actually been secretly sending Max love letters and roses a good while before Max realized who she was.

"I thought that's what it was also," Shelby glared. "But that was before I realized what a person Max was. When he found out I liked him, he forced me to do a pornographic photo shoot naked and threatened to release them to strangers."

"I never said that!" Max exclaimed again. His fists were tight as his mind searched for any possible solution to expose the lies that Shelby shelling out. Unfortunately for him, Mr. Jacobs was casting him the most disgusted face he'd ever seen. "Mr. Jacobs, this is absolutely false. She's making everything up."

"I even have proof that he sent this to me," Shelby announced. Both Mr. Jacobs and Max looked at her in surprise as things were definitely taking a turn for the worst for Max. She pulled out her phone and, timidly, showed them a picture of her naked body from head to toe. It was a rather beautiful picture, but at a time like this, it was definitely not the time to be ogling her body, especially when she showing as evidence. "You can even check his phone to see if he has it."

"I don't need to. I trust you well enough to know when you're telling the truth," Mr. Jacobs said. "Max, you are fired and I want you out of this building by three or else I'll have you arrested for excessive sexual harassment."

"But-but-but she's lying," Max tried to reason.

"GET OUT NOW!!" Mr. Jacobs yelled.

*****

Max snapped out of his memories as Crystal cautiously grabbed his hand. Looking into his eyes, she saw no remnant of joy that had been there earlier, only resentment and anger. He looked away, quickly burying his emotions and turned back to her, smiling as if what Shelby said had no effect on him at all.

"Max, we can leave if you want," Crystal suggested.

"I thought we were going to a restaurant," Jasper sneered. Obviously, Max's discomfort was a game changer for him. Now, if only Jasper could find a way to play that against Crystal, have them separate, dump Shelby, sweep Crystal off her feet and live the life he wanted. "He did offer to pay for our meals. I'm actually quite interested in where he wants to take us for dinner."

"Probably some alley where bums eat from the dumpsters," Shelby joined in.

"If you two have nothing positive to say, shut your mouth," Crystal snapped.

"So childish, Crystal," Jasper snickered.

Crystal barely took a step toward Jasper when Max tightened his grip on her hand. "This isn't how I wanted to enjoy my night. Don't worry about them. I'll make sure they regret their words when they see where we're going," he whispered into her ear. To Jasper, he simply said, "Let's go."

Getting in the respective cars, Max directed Jasper back across the D. C. nightlife and fifteen minutes later, they were standing at the entrance of the finest restaurant in the world: Global Gourmet. There was a long line of people waiting to walk into the entrance marked 'Reservation' while a guard stood next to the door to make sure no one tried anything 'funny'. For a moment, everyone besides Max thought he was leading them to the 'Reservation' entrance. That idea was immediately discarded as he led them to the 'VIP' entrance. The guard standing at the 'VIP' entrance raised his palm and they stopped.

"What's the password phrase?" the guard asked.

"It will never happen again," Max simply answered.

The guard was actually caught off guard for a moment before pulling out his phone and taking a picture of Max. Then he sent the picture to someone inside and a few seconds later, the door opened to a well-rounded, elderly man.

"Chef Foulkes!" Max called

"Max, what – why – where have you been?" the elderly exclaimed as he hugged Max tightly.

"Sightseeing," Max answered, nonchalantly. "It is D. C."

"You wish," the elder laughed.

"I sure do," Max agreed.

"Ah, where have our manners gone, Max?" the elder asked. "Please, introduce me to your friends."

"Right," Max said. "So, this is Jasper, a pyrokinetic hero and his date, Shelby Harris. And this beautiful, lovely girl standing next to me in her magnificent dress with an amazing personality is my number one reason to smile, Crystal."

"I see what you mean," the gentleman said, looking Crystal up and down, and, as a result, earning a hard stare from Crystal.

"Careful, you old geezer," Max smirked. "She's not all bark and no bite."

"No doubt about it," the elder man laughed. "How I miss the days of my youth. Well, I don't want to make you stand out here any longer than I have to. Let me personally take you to your seat."

The guard opened the door again and let them walk in as they followed the Chef Foulkes through the restaurant. A barrier separated them from the people making reservations for their tables. At first they weren't able to see anything since they were in a hallway, but soon enough, their eyes adjusted and they were able to see what the Global Gourmet was really about.

The room was in a circular shape and divided evenly. Four restaurants were lined side by side, only separated by a wall between the different cultural kitchens. For the customers, there were twenty-five tables and chairs in the middle of the room. The first kitchen on the left was an Asian restaurant, complete with decorative ornaments that hung from the ceiling and modern and historic posters on the walls. The chefs were also from Asian countries in the region so that the customers would feel at home as much as possible. Standing close to the kitchen, the air became pungent with multiple scents as one of the chefs put some spices on the customers' meals and Crystal's mouth watered as she could smell the fish frying.

The kitchen on the right was an African restaurant. Completely different from the Asian restaurant, the walls were covered with artistic artifacts made from African ancestors. There was even African music softly playing as the chefs cooked a family's meal before them. The hot and spicy sauce that one chef used immediately beckoned Jasper forward, who subconsciously stepped towards the food, wanting to be immersed in the smell and let it wash over him.

"Jasper, we're moving on," Max called out to him.

Snapping out of his revere, Jasper rushed and followed the group to the next kitchen, which turned to be a Caribbean diner. Multiple trees from the native region blocked off the group's view of the restaurant, but once they stepped through, they got an unmistakable feeling of being on one of the Caribbean islands. The guests were already eating their food and Shelby felt her stomach rumble; it definitely wanted some Caribbean food.

"We're coming up to my favorite restaurant next," Max whispered to Crystal.

Max's favorite restaurant turned out to be an Italian restaurant. Along with paintings of fruits native to Italy, there were also movie posters staring famous Italian actors including Max's favorite actors: Robert Di Niro and John Turturro. The chef there had already finished making a fresh batch of lasagna and Max couldn't stop smiling. The Italian chef took notice of Chef Foulkes and the group of heroes and immediately ran to get some plates and utensils to serve them.

"So what do you think?" Chef Foulkes asked the group.

"It's incredible," Crystal praised. "I hadn't even noticed this was here."

"Yep," the chef smiled. "I wanted people to have a place where they can have a variety of cultural cuisines without having to travel far away."

"Now that I think about it, you added a few things, didn't you?" Max observed.

"Actually, I took a few things away," Chef Foulkes corrected. "The walls were removed and I sold the giant globe sculpture."

"I liked that globe sculpture," Max said, remembering what it looked like. "What did you replace them with?"

"The chefs," Chef Foulkes simply answered. "This is a multi-cultural business; I needed them. As for the ornaments and artifacts, they were given as souvenirs and/or gifts."

"So this is just a food court?" Jasper asked. "Couldn't someone go to the mall or something instead?"

Sensing the rudeness, Chef Foulkes let it slide as he said, "Yes, they could if they want to waste gas. Not to mention, there isn't another multi-cultural restaurant in the entire world. And those restaurants in the food courts are not a part of the mall. They are their own chain of restaurants that have been granted permission to have their restaurants in the mall. If you don't have any other questions, let me sit you at a table and show you how to order your food."

Of course, the table he sat them at was in the center of all the tables surrounding it. No doubt so that everyone could see who Chef Foulkes was showing appreciation to. There were already utensils at the table and a tablet sitting in the center of the table as each of the heroes took their seats.

"Okay, so the tablet was on the table has a complete menu of each the four different restaurants," Chef Foulkes began. "When you decide what meal you'd like, just confirm, pay, and the meals on the order will be sent to the respective restaurants. When the meal is finished, the table will flash, informing you that your meal is ready. Your food will have your table number on it, so that no one will get their food confused."

He helped them order their meals and answered any questions about anything in particular. When Max took it to pay for the meal, Chef Foulkes took the tablet from his hands.

"Chef!" Max gasped.

"Yes?" Chef Foulkes replied.

"Did you give me a double serving?" Max asked after realizing what Chef Foulkes did.

"Of course, were you ever satisfied with just a single serving of lasagna?" Chef Foulkes replied.

"Nope, not with yours," Max answered before letting Chef Foulkes leave them to help serve their meals.

*****

The music was wonderful, the food was delicious, and Max was stuffed. Truthfully, nothing tasted better than a double helping of the world's best lasagna, made perfectly just for him. And given the way Crystal left her fish with nothing but the head and its bones, Max could tell she enjoyed her meal, too.

"I have never tasted fish this good before, and most likely, I will never taste it again," Crystal sighed happily.

"Well, I wouldn't say never again," Max said, nudging her. "We can come back on your birthday."

"I'm going to hold you to that," Crystal replied, causing Max to laugh. "That fish was too good for just one experience."

"So did everyone like their meal?" Chef Foulkes asked as he came from behind Max.

"It was magnificent," Crystal complimented, showing him her plate.

"You outdid yourself again, Chef," Max praised.

"I do my best," Chef Foulkes responded.

"I love this Caribbean chicken," Shelby said, jumping in the conversation. "It didn't need more spiciness nor was it too spicy, just the way I like it."

"It was good," Jasper said, pushing his African plate away from the edge of the table.

Seeing that he wasn't going to say anymore, Chef Foulkes picked up their trash while the girls took the time to go to the bathroom. Now alone with Jasper, Max felt more by himself than with an actual person and suddenly wondered if he could use the bathroom excuse just to get away from him.

"Why are you staring at me?" Max asked.

"You think of yourself as a big shot, don't you?" Jasper asked back. "You faked like you were enjoying the play and then came to a fancy restaurant, whose owner just so happens to be your friend."

"First of all, the play wasn't half bad," Max responded. "Secondly, I met Chef when he was about to close this restaurant down. If he had, you wouldn't be sitting here today."

"Right," Jasper said, not believing a word Max said. "And why was this place about to close down?"

"There was a rat infestation," Max said.

"And what, you got rid of them for him?" Jasper guessed.

"Nope, I wasn't touching those things with a ten foot stick," Max answered. "I hired an exterminator."

"Why would you do something like that?" Jasper continued asking.

"Because it's the nice thing to do," Max said like it was the most obvious thing ever. "Besides, I loved coming to this restaurant during college. I always did my homework here."

"I'm not talking about that," Jasper replied, completely disregarding what Max said. "I'm talking about why you didn't use your powers to get rid of them all."

"I didn't know I had powers until a few months ago, remember?" Max answered. "Now that we're on the subject, how did you get your powers anyway?"

"Why are you asking me that?" Jasper inquired.

"Curiosity," Max said. "I have some memories from my other half, and one of them shows Crystal and a few others raising their hands when asked who were born with powers. You and some others didn't raise your hand. So, I'm just wondering how you got them."

*****

"I bet you're happy to be receiving so much attention," Shelby said as Crystal came out of the stalls.

"What do you mean?" Crystal asked. "I wasn't doing anything worth being looked at."

"That doesn't matter," Shelby crossed her arms. "Max's attention was all on you and Jasper was either looking at you or glaring at Max."

"Then should I apologize for getting unwanted attention from Jasper?" Crystal asked.

"It wouldn't mean anything coming from you," Shelby rolled her eyes.

"Well, tell that to Jasper," Crystal suggested. "He is your date."

"Jasper's a retard," Shelby replied. "It'd only go in one ear and out the other."

"So blunt," Crystal smiled. "At least there's something we agree on."

"Is it too late for us to switch dates and see if we have some more fun?" Shelby asked and then clamped her hands over her mouth. "I didn't mean to say that out loud."

Despite her statement, the damage had already been done. The air dropped to a significant degree that goose bumps rose on Shelby's skin. However, a split second later, it rose back up as Crystal shook her head.

"I don't think Max would enjoy his date being with you as much as he's with me," Crystal said softly. "Besides, I despise Jasper too much to want to even be friends with him."

"It looks like my choices are coming back to haunt me," Shelby surmised.

"At least you won't make the same mistake again, right?" Crystal encouraged.

"Who would be that dumb?" Shelby asked.

*****

"That's it?" Max asked, waiting for more.

"Yeah, that's it," Jasper said, grinning proudly.

"Well, I guess I was wrong about you," Max said. As hard at it was to believe what he was told, Max didn't want the negativity between them to stay. "I thought you did something to hurt someone and they retaliated."

"Just because I want Crystal to be my girlfriend instead of yours doesn't mean I'm a bad person," Jasper frowned. "I'm just upset that I couldn't get to her before you did."

What they had been talking about was Jasper's origin of how he got his powers and eventually became a hero. To begin with, Jasper wasn't popular in school, not in the slightest. He wasn't very athletic, he didn't make good grades, and he wasn't handsome at all (but thankfully not ugly). So, to at least be noticed, he threw a graduation party at his house, which was barely able to accommodate the party. Of course, he had permission from his parents, who took the chance to spend some quality time to their selves, and had things ready to go an hour before the party started.

The party was a hit right off the bat. Every graduate that could make it was at his house and enjoying themselves. And it just wasn't the popular students either. Most of the students weren't a part of the popular group, including his best friends, but they still intermixed with the popular students. It seemed like it would have been the highlight of Jasper's life in school.

But, someone brought beer and other alcoholic beverages to Jasper's party, despite his pleas, and soon enough, everyone was getting drunk. Not too long after that, someone brought tobacco as well and everyone was smoking, whether directly or second-handedly. Regretfully, Jasper knew it was time to call it quits before something unfortunate happened to someone.

Unfortunately, he was too late. As a special thanks to him for throwing the party, his friends doused him with the water they found in Jasper's car. But it smelled too weird to Jasper (who was mildly drunk by now) and he decided he'd go change clothes when everyone had left. Unexpectedly, he bumped into his lifelong crush and asked to get to know her better. Coyly, she accepted and they parted ways. Or at least, that was their intention. The moment he took a step towards his house, Jasper felt an intense burning against his leg. Looking down, he saw fire race up his body, attracted by the liquid that was on his body.

Screaming, he dropped and rolled like he was taught, but that only spread the fire towards the other students. They reflexively moved away from him as he burned. Thinking quickly, Jasper took his shirt and pants off and tossed them aside. While it was a good idea, it did nothing as he realized his skin had absorbed whatever liquid was dumped on him as the fire covered him.